In an attempt to set a far-reaching legal precedent that would make it harder for private attorneys to drop potentially unprofitable clients, the state public defender’s office is appealing a Boone County judge’s controversial decision in an ongoing murder trial.

The appeal — filed in the Western District Court of Appeals earlier this month — would help alleviate what the taxpayer-supported public­ defender’s office calls a “caseload crisis.”

If a two-judge panel sides with the public defender’s office, it could score a victory for state-appointed defense lawyers who say they are overworked and underpaid.

Right now, a judge can allow a private lawyer to drop a client who cannot pay the remainder of his or her legal fees. Those private lawyers, however, still have the right to keep any fees already paid, while the public defender’s office ends up with the burden of the case.

The appeal by the Missouri State Public Defender System argues that longtime Boone County Circuit Judge Frank Conley was not authorized to appoint a public defender in August to represent Joseph Snyder, 37, of Ulman.

Snyder is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and four other related felonies. Conley is hearing the case after it was moved from Warren County to Boone County last year.

In November 2004, Snyder hired St. Charles attorney Michael Kielty and paid $5,000 to represent him against allegations that he shot and killed Charles Windmann, 60, of Wright City, in September 2004.

But this April, Snyder wrote a letter to Conley asking if he could fire his lawyer because he was “not working in his best interests, had not communicated with him and would not discuss or file motions,” according to court documents.

Conley ruled that Kielty would be allowed to withdraw from the case and ordered the public defender office to see if Snyder would be eligible for a public defender.

But because Snyder paid Kielty, a private attorney, his request was denied.

At a hearing earlier this month, Kielty told Conley that his fee was typically $25,000 for a guilty plea and $50,000 for a trial and that Snyder had no other available funds to pay the remaining amount.

Peter Sterling, the trial division director for the public defender office, argued that if Conley permitted Kielty to withdraw from the case, the court should order Kielty to return the $5,000 to his client or to the court so it could be used to retain another attorney.

Conley found that Kielty could withdraw from the case and, despite the public defender office’s recommendation, that Snyder’s indigent status made him eligible for representation.

“When we have to have one of our attorneys come in, or we have to pay an outsider, it costs us,” said Greg Mermelstein, the public defender office’s appellate division director. “We don’t think that is our role, and it forces taxpayers to finish up where private attorneys left off.”

A two-member judicial panel will now rule on the appeal.

Conley, 73, the former presiding judge of the Boone County Circuit Court who retired from the bench in 2002 but still takes cases as a senior judge, declined to comment directly on the appeal.

“I made a decision. If they say I’m right, I’ll continue doing it. If they say I’m wrong, I’ll have to do something else,” he said.

Kielty did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Doug Copeland, president of the Missouri Bar, said the judicial appeal in Boone County highlights the burden placed on public defenders statewide.

The Missouri Bar has blamed its high turnover rate on excessive caseloads and low wages.

The Missouri Bar created a task force — made up of legislators, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys — to address those problems and an interim state Senate committee is looking at how to lighten caseloads.

Copeland said Missouri public defenders typically handle 300 cases per year, well above a cap of 235 cases that was instituted in 1989.

Boone County’s 11 public defenders handle an average of 429 cases per year, and the office has four pending homicide cases.